~ Professional Genealogist, Educator, & Blogger

Welcome to my blog! I am Jake Fletcher. I have been blogging since 2008 about my family history under the blog name Travelogues of a Genealogist. As I document my experiences in genealogy, i intend to provide readers and researchers with tips, success stories, and essential resources for genealogy. Continue scrolling down the page to view my most recent blog posts.

As a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists (APG), the New England Association of Professional Genealogists (NEAPG), the Massachusetts Society of Genealogists (MASSOG), the New England Historical Genealogical Society (NEHGS), and the Central Massachusetts Genealogical Society (CMGS), I support and adhere to the APG’s Code of Ethics and the Board for the Certification of Genealogists (BCG) Genealogical Proof Standard.

Whatever level of experience in genealogy we might carry, there is a unanimous desire to visit the land of our ancestors. Those who have traveled to tour sights associated with their family history find it extremely moving. I myself descend from Irish families on my mother’s side. When I visited in Ireland in 2008 for non-genealogical purposes, it proved to be a very inspirational experience. So much so, that when I returned to United States, I basically hit the ground running to do genealogy. This led to much of my experience with Irish genealogy.

There are many people who know they have Irish roots and would like to know their ancestor’s townland of origin. It strengthens and adds a more personal connection to family history. Unfortunately, there’s a misconception among some that finding Irish origins is almost if not entirely impossible to obtain. It was never impossible and as of today, it’s easier then ever.

Before heading across the pond with your research, you need to be equipped with the knowledge of where your ancestors came from in Ireland. This might present researchers with the healthiest challenge. With that in mind, you have to undertake exhaustive and careful research. To explain this in detail would be in the scope of another post, but once the research is able to document with some accuracy where they came from in Ireland, you can begin to work with the Irish records. Ireland has made many genealogical records available online at no cost and the following list of websites are useful in propelling you back to your Irish homeland.

In 2015, the National Library of Ireland completed a digitization project of Roman Catholic church registers from the earliest available up to 1880. Even though these records are indexed on various other databases, you can use the NLI’s website access the images of these records and browse through them. Ministers recorded baptisms, marriages, and burials for their parish. The availability of records by parish varies greatly and many do not start until the 19th century because of Catholic Penal Laws.

Fig 1. Baptism register of My 3rd great-grandfather John Oliver, son of Bartholomew Oliver and Catherine Mannion. He was baptized 2 May 1826 in St Nicholas West Parish, Galway. The sponsors were Bernard Lyness and Celia O’Dougherty.

NAI’s genealogy website is among my favorite because of the diversity of collections and access to images of all the records. Among the available databases include:

1901, 1911 and pre-1901 survivals

Tithe Applotment Books, 1823-1837

Valuation Office house, field, tenure and quarto books 1824-1856

Calendar of Wills and Administrations, 1858-1922

Diocesan & Prerogative Wills, 1595-1858

Diocesan & Prerogative Marriage License Bonds, 1623-1866

Catholic Qualification & Convert Rolls, 1700-1845

Shipping agreements and crew lists, 1863-1921

Essentially, they have digitized most of their important genealogy collections they have. Each collection is searchable with multiple fields. Many of these collections, such as the pre-1858 wills and related will calendars, are based on a gathering of resources to reconstruct the immense loss from the Public Record Office fire in 1922. Only a small fraction of the wills and pre-1901 census records survive, but even if your ancestors left in the famine-era, it’s good to check the 1901 and 1911 schedules for descendants and Irish continued to emigrated well into the 20th century. For those who have located their ancestors in Griffith’s Valuation (searchable at askaboutireland.ie), the valuation office books are a useful source for historical research about living conditions in 19th century Ireland. Griffith’s was essentially a census of landowners and leasers conducted for the purpose of taxation and are in most cases, the only comprehensive census available for pre-famine Ireland. Griffith’s Valuation at least puts our ancestor in a time and place, but the addition of the Valuation office books can add more detail. With the house books, I learned the exact dimensions of my ancestor Bartholomew Oliver’s house on Fish Quay in Galway. It also stated the worth of his household items and the fact he had a small garden, but no yard.

Ireland began unilateral civil registration of births, marriages, and deaths in 1864, with the exception that non-Roman Catholic Marriages began in 1845. These records are among the most genealogically informative in Ireland and because of irishgenealogy.ie, administered by Ireland’s Department of Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, many of the indexes and images of these records are available for research. This is a huge development for the online Irish genealogy, because traditionally you had to navigate civil registration records with the indexes, which only provide name, registration district, volume and page number. The availability of images with the indexes are not complete and at this time, the following range of years are available for Civil Registrations:

Births: 1864-1915

Marriages: 1882 to 1940

Deaths: 1891 to 1965

Fig 3. Death Registration of Bartholomew Oliver, 24 Mar 1900, Registration District Galway No.1. He died at his home on New Docks Street in Galway. His daughter Mary Josephine Oliver was present at his death, informing the registrar he was 79 years old, married, worked as a sea captain, and died probably of rheumatism. Mary visited the local registrar May 25th, two months after Bartholomew died.

If you want to learn directly from John Grenham, subscribe to Legacy Family Tree Webinars and tune in to his 5-part Irish Genealogy webinar course. You can also perform some great research on his immensely helpful website and use it as a waypoint to other resources. Locality research is as important to Irish genealogy as any other kind and John Grenham’s place name search is a great way to search for Irish townlands. Each townland listing provides the corresponding parish and civil registration district that encompasses it, leading you to the appropriate records for that townland and all neighboring ones within the parish or district. Even if your ancestor reported his townland of origin in certain genealogical sources, he may have actually originated from a neighboring locale. His surname search engine also gives background on Irish names and a distribution map of the surname in pre-famine Ireland, based on data from Griffith’s Valuation.

The websites explained in this post represent the essentials for getting started in Irish records, but there are also many others. You can find a more comprehensive list in my personal guide to Irish genealogy online. So relax in your shamrock PJs and follow your family history back to Ireland!

The world of genealogy is no stranger to overcoming records that perished in natural and man-made disasters. Many of these disasters resulted in monumental record losses that took with it a significant part of our history. On 12 July 1973, the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis caught fire shortly after midnight and burned intensely for almost an entire day. The damage from flames and water used by the firefighters resulted in an insurmountable loss of an estimated 16-18 million records. The National Archives reports that the following records were affected:[1]

This means that the fire destroyed important service records for those who served in the U.S. Army and Air Force during WWI, WWII, & the Korean War; essentially three of the most major conflicts in the 20th century. The loss is so important because service records provide important genealogical information and amazing detail on our ancestors’ roles in these wars. I know because when the copy of my grandfather’s OMPF (Official Military Personnel File) from his service in the U.S. Navy came in the mail, my jaw dropped from the sheer size of the packet containing his military personnel documents.

In the aftermath of this disastrous fire, the National Personnel Records Center undertook extensive efforts to treat records that were somewhat salvageable, so there is a chance that if you put in a request, they may have a partially reconstructed file. Most of all, it is for the U.S. military extensive documentation and record keeping practices that we are grateful, because we can use a number of alternative or “auxiliary” sources to reconstruct our ancestor’s service. Most of these are in the custody of the National Archives at St. Louis.

Burial Case Files

The National Archives has several series relating to the burial of U.S. soldiers. Dating back to the Civil War, The Office of the Quartermaster General assumed responsibility of burials and cemeterial affairs for U.S. soldiers. For researchers investigating the deaths of World War I soldiers, consulting the collection “Correspondence, Reports, Telegrams, Applications, and Other Papers Relation to Burials of Service Personnel, 1915-1939” is essential. Also known as “Cemeterial Files” or “293 Files,” this series contains all the documents submitted to the Quartermaster General’s office regarding the burial of a U.S. Soldier who died during World War I. A file can include documents such as grave location cards, reburial information, correspondence to family members, financial records, and ephemera like the soldier’s dog tags. In the aftermath of the war, Gold Star mothers traveled overseas to visit the burial sites and records related to their travel (itineraries) are also included. Researchers will also be able to determine the soldier’s exact cause of death from documents such as this telegram found in the burial case file of poet Joyce Kilmer.

The U.S. General Accounting Office kept pay cards and vouchers for Army World War I Officers, Enlisted Men, and Nurses, dated 1917-1921. While most of the pay cards contain strictly information related to wages and deductions, the final pay voucher is the most revealing, because it will list the rank, unit, enlistment information, as well as character of discharge. However, final pay vouchers do not survive for every soldier.

Known also as “XC Files”, these can be a goldmine of genealogical information, just like the pension files for veterans of earlier conflicts. XC Files are part of Record Group 15, Records of the Department of Veterans Affairs. What you can find on veterans is astounding and extremely helpful for genealogical research. These files include the veteran’s full name, birth date, names of family members, beneficiaries, service information, residence, and death date. Files may include the veteran’s discharge papers, medical records, change of address, vital records, wills, funeral receipts, insurance papers, and photographs.

Open cases are still in the custody of the Department of Veterans Affairs. Those that are closed have been transferred to the National Personnel Records Center and later, the National Archives at St. Louis. NARA’s St. Louis branch has in their archives XC files for veterans from the Civil War up to World War I. The National Archives at St. Louis does have the VA Master Index File up to 1972, which can give you the VA claim number and others, allowing you to contact the Veterans Administration directly for more records.

Award Cards

Many award cards at held at NARA’s St. Louis branch. These cards were created by the Adjutant General’s Office of the War Department and document soldiers, as well as civilians, who performed acts of heroism and sustained injuries. These cards may include name, place of birth, address, service number, rank, general order number, award type, and description of why they are receiving an award. Using the general order number can lead to additional records in the General Orders series about why the veteran received this particular award.

Morning Reports

Morning reports were created by each unit of the U.S. Army and Army Air Force to report changes in the status and number of personnel within the organization. For this reasons, morning reports will list soldiers who were injured, hospitalized, reassigned, or given leave. They are not the complete roster of an organization. Morning reports may also include activities within that unit and may mention an individual’s specific involvement in a battle or event. These types of details are not included the official military personnel files. Morning reports are held at College Park and on microfilm at NARA’s St. Louis Branch, but because they were reproduced poorly, they only permit researchers to look at them on-site and will not take mail requests.

Wow, this summer went by so fast! I usually do a monthly newsletter or update on my blog, but July and August were very hectic and ended up skipping last month’s update. I am glad that it is September, not just because fall weather will arrive soon, but also after a few months off I am now back to giving presentations and teaching genealogy.

Coming up first is my 4-week genealogy course at Monty Tech in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. I will cover everything you need to get started on genealogy and there will be open research time, so students have a chance to receive individualized help on research problems. Reserve your seat now and register at montytechnites.com.

So much is going on right now and for that reason, I didn’t really slow down at all this summer. I’m working on new lecture topics, interesting research cases, booking programs, and sticking with the ProGen Study Group. For those thinking about a career or part-time job in genealogy, I’d highly suggest signing up for ProGen because the feedback and support from your group is invaluable. You also have a chance to see a variety of approaches to the same assignment, which for me has provided inspiration.

September is traditionally back to school month, so it feels fitting to be visiting so many repositories and learning about what collections of school records they might have. Last month, you may have read my blog post “School Days: A Trip To Boston City Archives,” demonstrating that amazing collections and genealogical sources are not always online. In surveying what school records have survived in Massachusetts, there is so much variety and many possibilities to learn about your ancestor’s education experience.

I will be debuting this presentation for the Massachusetts Society of Genealogists’ webinar series on November 15th and subsequently this proposal was accepted for the New England Regional Genealogy Conference, which is happening in April 2017. You can find out more about the conference at nergc.org.

For those who follow my blog, you might know I enjoy coming across records that are overlooked for genealogy and blogging about them, even if they don’t pertain directly to my family. I feel it’s important to share these sources, because they may pertain to your family and be the hammer that breaks down your brick wall. To see what has perked my interest recently, check out these posts:

Looking for more resources, visit the Legacy News and Research Toolbox page on my website to access more tips and links!

For personal research, I haven’t blogged much about my ancestors, however there is lot I’m working on for particular lines. I had the chance this summer to interview some cousins from my father’s side of the family who enlightened with details about relatives that would have never been apparent from the records. It was an important reminder that it’s not all about research in records or working with data, but preserving the family stories. Talking to cousins compelled me to write a guest post for another blog, explaining “The Importance of Oral History For A Genealogist.”

I was also able to connect with a new cousin, Ciaran from Galway, Ireland who descends from my 4th great-grandfather Bartholomew Oliver. I’m pleased to hear that the Oliver descendants not only continue to live in the same neighborhood of Galway, but stuck close to their maritime roots. Ciaran and his family offer tours of Galway Bay by boat, you can check out their website at http://www.galwaybaytours.com. I already added this to my bucket list and I yearn even more to travel back to Ireland!

As always with my newsletters, I like to share other people’s posts and interesting article from recent past. Here’s ten links that might perk your interest:

The U.S. Consul of Singapore A.G. Studer tended to seaman Thomas Dixon’s bedside at Singapore Colonial Hospital as he suffered his last days from consumption. Dixon spoke to the consulate of Captain J.H. Snow’s ill treatment of him while sailing on the ship Tabor of Bath, Maine. Captain Snow’s decision to finally grant Dixon admission into a hospital when arriving at the port of Penang was all too late. In a voice masked by deep coughing, Dixon made his will. He would pass away 3 June 1881.[1] The will, an account of the personal effects belonging to Thomas Dixon, the 10 page affidavit of the consul, and correspondence all survive. They survive because federal courts in the United States handled the wages and effects for merchant seamen dying overseas. For that reason, they are in the custody of the National Archives. A small, but impressive collection of these are with the National Archives in Records of The District Courts of The United States, RG 21, in a series called “Deceased Seamen’s Case Files.”

Under federal law, the U.S. Circuit Court was appointed to handle the claims for deceased or deserted seamen. Within these case files, you will find at least the seamen’s date and cause of death along an account of the seaman’s wages and effects. A case file could include a lot more, such as affidavits and correspondence from various parties, claims of the next-of-kin, financial records, funeral records, and personal papers belonging to the seaman. In the file of Francis Von Burlow, who died while cruising the Kennebec River, survives a letter from his father Carl Von Burlow, living in Hamburg, Germany, stating he wishes the effects to be given away.[2]

Why were U.S. Federal Courts handling these claims? It’s not a coincidence that these series date back to the 1870s, because before then, no law was in place for the protection of seamen’s effects and wages if they died during a voyage. A Congressional Act of 7 Jun 1872 changed all of that, which put in place the procedures various officials should take when a seamen was to die during a voyage.[3] The law required that master, owner, or consul in a foreign port, pay the local U.S. Shipping Commissioner any unpaid wages and the effects of the deceased seaman, which was then delivered to the Circuit Court. The master had the ability to choose whether the effects could be sold by auction, since they were usually just articles of clothing, but any money raised would be delivered with the outstanding wages to the Circuit Court “of the circuit in which he [the seaman] resides.”[4] According to the act, eligible claimants for a deceased seaman’s wages and effects could be “his widow or children, or [anyone] to be entitled to the effects of the deceased under his will (if any), or under the statute for the distribution of the effects of intestates.”[5]

To find a person in these case files, a researcher must know the seamen’s name, residence, and approximate date of death. NARA does have a name index for these and a look-up can be requested by contacting that branch. There also the original docket books for these case files, which include abstracted information and additional notes. The good news for researchers is that the exact files I’ve mentioned, along with others for deceased seamen of Maine and Massachusetts, have been digitized by Family Search and are now available for browsing. Other branches of the National Archives, hold similar series, which can be located in NARA’s online catalog. There are only several hundred in New England federal court records, but if you have a deceased mariner in your family tree, you might be in for it to strike genealogy gold.

In Consul A.G. Studer’s affidavit, researchers are able to examine a primary account of Thomas Dixon’s personal history and procure many genealogical clues. Dixon was 40 years old at the time of his death and was born in Ireland. He emigrated with his parents to Savannah, Georgia when he was four years old. His parents died while he was still a boy and ever since made the sea his home. Dixon mentioned he had no relatives, except perhaps a sister Ann, whose last known whereabouts was St. Louis, Missouri with an unnamed husband and at the time did not know what happened to either of them. Dixon willed his effects to another patient and mariner named John Nelson, citing that it was an award “for kindly looking after me and nursing me during my illness.”[6] The overall impression of the affidavit from consul A.G. Studer is that here survives an example of tender humanity towards a man who suffered in his last dying days without any family to comfort him.

[1] Affidavit of U.S. Consul A.G. Studer, 28 June 1881; case no. 52; Case Files of Deceased and Deserted Seamen, U.S. Circuit Court, District of Maine, 1873-1911; Record Group 21: Records of the District Courts of the United States; National Archives – Northeast Region, Waltham, Massachusetts.

[2] Letter from Carl Von Burlow to Edward W. Larrabee, U.S. Shipping Commissioner, 12 Feb 1887; case no. 74; Case Files of Deceased and Deserted Seamen, U.S. Circuit Court, District of Maine, 1873-1911; Record Group 21: Records of the District Courts of the United States; National Archives – Northeast Region, Waltham, Massachusetts.

[6] Will of Thomas Dixon, 28 May 1881; case no. 52; Case Files of Deceased and Deserted Seamen, U.S. Circuit Court, District of Maine, 1873-1911; Record Group 21: Records of the District Courts of the United States; National Archives – Northeast Region, Waltham, Massachusetts.

Are there records that family historians can use to learn about their ancestor’s early life in school? Yes, there are, but it depends on whether the records have survived. My visit to the Boston City Archives was testament to the fact that many records useful for genealogy are not online anywhere. Why was I there yesterday? There wasn’t a specific person I was looking for, rather I just wanted a feel for their collection. The small sampling of items they pulled for me was a fascinating array of records pertaining to Boston’s school history. It turned out to be a really fun and informative first visit to the Boston City Archives.

The Boston City Archives (BCA) is the record repository for the municipal offices of Boston. In that purpose, it’s collections document the history of Boston. Boston City Archives is the repository for many of the city’s public school records and has student records back to the mid 19th century. It does not collect records from parochial schools or private schools. Among the student records I surveyed were student registers, admittance books, scholarship records, and attendance lists. Most of the records are textual, but the graduation programs for Boston High Schools up to the 1970s have been microfilmed. BCA also has a strong collection of yearbooks and class books.

For genealogists, it can be difficult to get someone’s student record because of privacy laws. In the state of Massachusetts, the hundred-year privacy rule keeps student records from 1916 onward sealed. The Boston City Archives will let descendants view an ancestor’s student record if they fill out a liability form ahead of time. Because some student records are arranged alphabetically, records from all dates are interfiled with each other, so the public can’t view an entire series because they would be viewing records that are still sealed.

Fig 1. Roxbury High School Admittance Records, 1870-1888. These registers are organized into two parts with admittance and scholarship records. Each part is organized by class and date. In admittance records, each student entry includes name, age (in some cases, the headmaster added the birthdate), date of admittance, school they came from, name of one parent, residence, and remarks including date of their discharge (usually says graduated or left.)

Fig 2. Roxbury High School Scholarship Records, 1870-1888. Scholarship records are much like report cards. They include students grades for different areas of study using a possible number of points, number of absences, and overall rating for assignments with remarks like “poor” or “excellent.”

Fig 3. Horace Mann School For The Deaf Registers, 1869-1913. Of the records I examined, these had the most interesting details. Each entry includes the student’s name, date of admission, age, name of parent or guardian, and residence. The headmaster made a lot of interesting remarks about each student regarding their circumstances including physical condition, if they were able to hear again, admission to another institution, or whether they removed. Some entries include date of death and even one entry in the page above has the student’s marriage listed. Lots of good genealogical information lies within these collections.

Fig 4. Hyde Park High School Scholarship Records, 1890-1896. These records show the student’s name, date of birth, date of enrollment, date of graduation, and name of one parent. The report cards show the areas of study for each student along with their grades.

Fig 5. Henry L. Pierce School Record Book, 1893. Each student record includes name, date and place of birth, address, father’s name, father’s business address, name of the teacher, and monthly report cards.

Fig 6. Thetford St. Elementary, Admittance Book, 1906. Includes the occupation of the parent. Some also listed the date of vaccination.

The Boston City Archives Website has an important page on “How To Find Your Boston Public Schools Transcript.” This page is a directory of student records and what repository has custody of them. Some are in Boston Public Schools Record Management Office, and others remain at the school like records for Boston Latin School, established 1635 and thus the oldest public school in the United States. Included on their website as well are finding aids for important collections, among those pertaining to School History, which has a few alumni catalogues but mostly mention sources documenting more general histories of the schools.

As an afterthought, the beautiful handwriting of the headmasters, teachers, and other reminded me of how I as a student was taught cursive up until 5th grade or about the year 2000. Having left my muscle memory many years later, I have come to see cursive handwriting and other documents of this nature in many ways a lost art form.

MS Excel is a useful tool for genealogy because it assists in observing patterns that emerge out of data, especially when using it with the FAN (Friends Associates Neighbors) principle. Because were examining larger segments of a population whether it be neighborhoods or ethnic communities, genealogical sources provide invaluable demographic information that go beyond the traditional discipline of genealogy into social history. The trick to implementing this in spreadsheet software like Excel is easy, the hard part is sitting down to abstract records with this information, unless it happens to be the type of thing you enjoy.

Your data has the most meaning when you focus on a particular source to study. You can create some very convincing hypotheses with your data if you analyze the same population through separate studies that focus on one source and then draw comparisons when analyzing them as a whole. You can analyze a community through the federal census, WWI draft cards, naturalizations, draft registration, arrest records, and more.

You have the freedom to choose how many different types of facts you extract from the set of sources. It’s best to decide at the beginning, so your mind sticks with the routing you established at the start, rather then going back and extracting a new piece of data. It just feels like less work when you already doing something that could be considered tedious. However, the more parts of the record you analyze, the greater chance you can reveal some interesting observations about a particular population. How many of the people in the neighborhood were literate? How many families owned a radio? What types of occupations were performed in the neighborhood?

I picked a neighborhood of Eastern European immigrants from the 1920 Census to demonstrate this strategy. Of the 20 families I recorded, 70% of the individuals immigrated to the United States. As I extracted data from the census, there were several ways I could “sort” my data to present interesting observations:

1. To organize my list of names by a particular category, highlight the data with the “Select All” short key [for Macintosh and Windows, its Ctrl + A].

2. At the top bar of my menu, is a row of icons, including an icon with the letters Z, A, and a white arrow. This is the sort function and it may appear in another form, depending on what version you are working with.

3. Highlight the icon and it’s drop down menu, to see a list of options and levels for sorting. We want to use “Custom Sort.”

4. By clicking custom sort, a new window pops up with levels for sorting the data. You can select the column of data for which to sort by. I was curious to see a chronology of when people in this area arrived in the United States, so I’ll highlight the column for immigration year.

5. Then click on the icon that will arrange my data, either in an ascending (alphabetically or numerically) or descending fashion.

My interest led to this small section of the town’s population because of a work-related project and the fact that it was in the town in which I resided for 15 years. Near the Samson Cordage Works in Shirley, Massachusetts resided a majority of the town’s Polish and Russian population. As employees of the factory, they lived in company homes along Phoenix Street and Rodman Avenue in the Southeastern section of Shirley, close enough that they could walk home to lunch everyday. I can perform a custom sort again and this time sort by occupation. I can see more clearly the roles of different members in the neighborhood in regards to what they did for work. Each held a specific station at Samson Cordage Works, so it’s interesting to see where everyone was specifically positioned within the mill.

As I mentioned before, these techniques could be implemented with any set of data, regardless of size or content. Taking these easy steps to sort the data in different ways lends itself to conducting research that is more thorough and perhaps even breaking down genealogy brick walls.

For further reading, I suggest Colleen Fitzpatrick’s Forensic Genealogy who shows with many examples of how analyzing datasets in genealogy can lead to powerful research conclusions.

Genealogy helps more than to understand your family history, it helps in becoming a global citizen. Family is a central unit to culture, so when you take some time to learn about or practice genealogical research in a particular geographic area or populous, you are studying and appreciating culture. Just as living or traveling in a foreign country will enhance your global understanding, a similar, although sometimes less intense experience can happen when learning about family histories. For a long time, while being comfortable with research in certain geographic areas and record groups, I had somehow managed to overlook the importance of learning about others. I then decided to make more of an effort to, as one genealogist put’s it “break out of my genealogy comfort zone.”

I begin attending all local lectures I could, regardless of the subject. Without fail, you always take away something. Sometimes the speaker could offer you a tip that could translate into your research. Other times, you walk away with a new perspective on your own community, because each of our immigrant ancestors has a different understanding of their history and assimilation into American life.

It’s also fun to pick up words in different languages. Studying genealogy in foreign countries brought me a whole new appreciation for becoming bi-lingual. Languages were not my strong suit in school and I admittedly overlooked it. But now, I’m fascinated with my growing facility of languages, translating foreign documents, and having more of a world history education than strictly U.S. History.

June has been filled with fun and interesting programs, always-invigorating research cases, and a fresh outlook on the world of genealogy. This past month I was elected for another society position as Vice-President for the Worcester Chapter of the Massachusetts Society of Genealogists (MSOG). I’m looking to working with my board and schedule fun, educational programs for members and the local community. Guests are always welcome, so bring your friends!

I will be back to lecturing a lot in the fall. Check out the schedule and mark your calendars. I am always excited to help people with their research and work on them with their challenges!

I often receive a somewhat perplexed reaction from people when they find out my given birth name is James. This reaction is followed by the question, “How did you end up becoming Jake?” I identify with my given name very little. I was born with the given name James Connor Fletcher over 25 years ago, but since I can remember, my parents called me Jake. Remembering back in school or any time a roll call for attendance was performed, hearing the name “James Fletcher” made me slightly uncomfortable because I then had a choice. Do I just decide to roll with it or should I speak up and explain I go by Jake?

The culmination of my genealogy pursuits has led me to ponder how James turned into Jake. Both are given names, most people named James will often resort to the nickname of Jim, such as my father. Jake is more commonly a name for Jacob. I decided to ask my mom about this because I really wanted to know what motivated them to call me Jake. If they didn’t like James, then why give me the name in the first place?

My mom couldn’t necessarily provide a direct cause for the decision. Part of her answer suggested a compromise between my parents. My mom wanted me to be Jacob and my dad wanted me to have his name, James. The conversation left me with more questions than answers. How does a name suit someone better? How exactly does a name speak to our identity if we are not the ones choosing it?

Furthermore, the fact that I’m both James and Jake in a sense, is based on what purpose I am providing my name. This provides the occasional internal dilemma. What name do I go by? I feel that Jake has more weight legally than a nickname, but to the government and any other institution: I am James Fletcher.

Because I spend so much time documenting deceased people who use two or several names, the genealogist inside me asked another question. Hypothetically, if someone two hundred years down the road, decided to look for me, how difficult would it be for them to research me, having to account for both James and Jake Fletcher in every search they do? It’s kind of a crazy thing to think about, and I said hypothetically, because as a genealogist, I’ve taken care of the hard work for my descendants.

However, the decisions of our ancestors that might not make sense with out context could send family historians into many hours deep of research looking for that elusive person. Researchers need to take into account the spontaneity of our ancestors and should never assume the facts about someone’s life. Going against the old adage that humans are “creatures of habit,” our ancestors equally defied traditional conventions. The motivations for their decisions can be hard to understand when we don’t have the chance to speak with them personally. My own personal story of how I “became” Jake exemplifies one scenario of how it could be difficult to find an ancestor you’re looking for. My parents raised me by a name different from the one I was given, so I’ve essentially adopted it as my identity. My legal documents all indicate James, but in theory, other sources could identify me as Jake. Unless a source clarified that two were the same, Jake and James could be discerned as different people.

Genealogical research has its fair share of heavy moments and painful stories. One that left a lasting scar on the Fleischhauer family was the death of Friedrich William Fleischhauer, who at only eleven years old, was killed by a moving train on the Long Island Railroad Tracks. While the event was remembered by living descendants, many details remained in obscurity until I pursued researching this family tragedy. The few documents that were located tell more of the story.

Friedrich William Flesichhauer was born 7 Oct 1893 in Brooklyn, New York to Franz Emil and Meta (Rankin) Flesichhauer.[1] He was the eldest of his siblings that included two brothers and two sisters. Friedrich was the name of Franz’s father, a glass engraver, but for his shot natural life, Friedrich William chose to be called William.

Millions of newspaper volumes for the New York City Area have been digitized, the largest collections being fultonhistory.com and New York State Historic Newspapers. The Fulton collection led me to my first breakthrough. The Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported on Sept 18 1905 that William Fleischhauer, an 11 year old boy, was struck by a train while crossing the Long Island Rail Road tracks near the Hollis depot. The operator of the locomotive was engineer Harry Williamson.[2]

Image Source: fultonhistory.com

The newspaper article attests to the fact that his death was instantaneous and that the engineer did not recognize that he had hit someone or refused to stop. Poor William’s death was gruesome; several cars rolled over his body and the reporter stated that “his head was horribly mangled.”[3] The engineer was reportedly charged with homicide and the body of young William was taken to Everitt’s morgue under the discretion of Coroner Ruoff. The Long Island Farmer, published 22 Sep 1905, adds one new kernel of information; specifically that William was killed at 5pm Monday afternoon. At that time of day, it was still light outside and the excuse of darkness couldn’t be justified in the engineer’s defense for not seeing young William on the tracks.[4]

William was only a mile away from his home in Hollis where the accident happened. The article published in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle that the Fleischhauer family had just recently moved from Brooklyn to the village of Hollis in Queens, New York and were residing at the corner of Husson and Prospect Streets.[5] Only 3 three months earlier, the Fleischhauer family was enumerated in the 1905 New York State Census at 157 Cornelia Street in Brooklyn, which leads to the conclusion they moved to Queens between June and September 1905.[6] Brooklyn city directories continue to list William’s father, Franz (Frank) Flesichhauer residing at 157 Cornelia St. in Brooklyn through 1908.[7] He could have continued to use this address as a work facility for manufacturing thermometers.

Google Earth located the Hollis railroad depot, but was unable to find Husson or Prospect street. Many of the street names in Queens changed during the 20th century. Steve Morse has compiled a thorough list of all the name changes in Queens and his webpage showed that Husson Street is now 187th Place.[8] I was intimately familiar with 187th Place; many records list the Fleischhauers address as 89-36 187th Place in Hollis. The street view shows the house standing at the intersection of two streets. Intersecting with 187th Place is 90th Avenue, which was formerly Prospect Ave.[9] I had confirmed that the Fleischhauer family had moved to their home in Hollis which stayed in the Fleischhauer until Franz and Meta, parents of William, passed away after World War II.

Image Source: Google Earth

The death certificate of William identifies him by his first name of Frederick (Friedrich). Not only does the document confirm, the location and date of his death, it also adds more medical information. In addition to a severe head fracture, the coroner’s examination also note a broken arm and leg.[10] The undertaker was named Benjamin F. Everitt, corroborating the fact that William’s body was brought to “Everitt’s Morgue.”

Image Source: Author’s Collection.

There are still a lot of loose ends in the investigation, particularly concerning finding out what happened to the engineer Harry Williamson:

The courthouse in Queens County, New York may have a file on Harry Williamson, but no inquiry to their holdings has been made yet. Google Books does hold digests and reports hearings for many courts in New York City, but searches have failed to locate any mention of a trial.

The identity of Harry Williamson remains unclear. Two men named Harry Williamson lived in separate apartments at 327 Second Street, Brooklyn, New York. Engineer Harry J. Williamson is listed as 46 years old and born in Ireland. He arrived in about 1868.[11] The second Harry Williamson, also an engineer, lived a couple of apartments over as a boarder in the household of Patrick Ratay. He was born about 1879 in the United States[12] An article from 1906 in the Hempstead Sentinel reports a break in on 4 Oct 1906 to a house owned by Harry Williamson. The article identifies him as an engineer, but otherwise, there is little certainty of his identity.[13]

Coroner Ruoff ‘s full name was Leonard Ruoff Jr., who died in 1907.[14] William Fleischhauer did not appear in New York City Coroner Inquests for 1905 or 1906, microfilmed by the Family History Library.[15] Coroner records dating back to 1906 are in custody of the New York City Municipal Archives. Records for William’s autopsy may or may not be in this collection, as January 1906 is three months later than the death of William.[16]

From family papers, I received a copy of the deed showing a cemetery plot purchased by Franz Fleischhauer 27 Sep 1905 at the Lutheran Cemetery in Queens.[17] I can’t imagine the difficulty of a father burying his child. This same plot in the Lutheran Cemetery holds the remains of William, his parents Franz, Meta, and William’s brother, Frank Julius (my great-grandfather). May they all rest in peace.

Those who have been following my website and blog may have noticed the domain change to travelyourgenealogy.com, which better reflects the mission statement of my business and this website. Since 2008, genealogy has led me on an amazing adventure and connected me with people from all walks of life. Some of us have had the opportunity to visit and tour the landmarks that have touched our family history, but even the records bring us back in time and serve as a unique voice for historical truth. When you visit my website and blog, you will not only be able to learn about my genealogy journey, but start or continue your own. My blog posts are designed to give readers research tips and my “Research Toolbox” page holds a lot of guides, useful links, and templates. My professional services are here to help you with journey of self-discovery.

My great-grandmother Adelaide Oliver O’Neill and two unidentified women at St. Patrick’s Burial Place in Downpatrick, County Down, Ireland. Image Source: Author’s Collection.

May has been a great month! I couldn’t be happier with the career path I have chosen. I’ve even had time to make some breakthroughs on my father’s family, the Fleischhauers, and some new source discoveries. I had a fun time attending my first Geneablogger Bash, basically a relaxing cookout where I got to me other amazing genealogy bloggers. ProGen 30 begins in June and am looking forward to taking the next step in my genealogy journey. I think this will be an exciting and fulfilling summer.

I am also on Twitter (@travelgenealogy) so follow me there too as I tweet a lot of genealogy links and breaking news.

Record Spotlight – Civil War Draft Registrations (Are You Getting All The Records?)

Finding out that your ancestor was drafted during the Civil War connects your family to an important moment in American history. In 1863, the United State Government mandated the first act ever in it’s to history that would require compulsory service in the military. The draft act of 1863 was very controversial and resulted in many riots around the country, including the infamous riot that occurred in New York City.

Civil War draft registration records for the Union Army are collected in NARA Record Group 110, Records of the Provost Marshal General’s Bureau (Civil War). While Ancestry.com does have a collection of indexed draft registrations, these are merely the consolidated lists and encompass only part of the records. NARA still has not digitized what are known as the draft medical examinations, where each draftee received a physical examination. These lists will include some interesting medical history and will indicate if any physical deformities or ailments made them unfit for service. All draft registries are organized by the State and thereunder Congressional District. If you’d like to request a look up of these records, e-mail the appropriate branch of the National Archives and indicate the town or city in which they were drafted.